Leaked Document Claims Apple, RIM, and Nokia Gave Indian Government Spying Tools

According leaked Indian documents Apple, RIM and Nokia provided the Indian government with backdoor access to their handsets effectively turning every handset into a spy's wet dream. This was done in exchange for "presence in the Indian market."

News about these back-doors being put in place dates back to the beginning of 2008 when it was reported the Indian government demanded back-doors from handset creators in order to intercept emails and text messages. In 2010 it was reported again that a number of providers were giving the Indian government backdoor access to Skype, Gmail, and other program information after the Indian government complained RIM’s backdoor access didn’t reveal everything.

The document above appears to solidify that Apple, RIM, Nokia, and possibly others, provided the Indian government with the ability to intercept communications on handsets via backdoor access. The most embarrassing part? The backdoors allowed the Indian government to intercept emails and other communication exchanges between U.S. government officials. The U.S. communications exchange comprimised in this case revolved around 'the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship' between the U.S. and China.”

Carrier IQ is one thing, but the requested intrusion into the lives of handset owners by a government, and the granting of those requests is on another level of privacy invasion. Also, the fact sensitive U.S. trade information could have been/is currently being compromised because of these dealings is that much more concerning and infuriating.

Obviously, I’m not naive enough to think the information passed digitally through numerous company and government networks is “safe” but, a little transparency would be nice.

The information intercepted was between U.S. officials based inside of India.

it doesn't say anything about US Officials based in India (not that I read). what matters is that if an Indian official was using a phone that had backdoor access, and that person communicated with a US Official (regardless of where he was), they could still see all transmissions from the Indian officials phone.